In their primes, who was more skilled... Lennox Lewis or Riddick Bowe?

Lewis.

 

Lewis

 

"Skills" are overrated. Riddick Bowe seemed to be able to do more overall, however Lewis was a far more intelligent fighter who boxed more consistently and executed better.

 

Lewis was the more sound of mind, obviously. Bowe was the more talented of the two, and I think that's quite obvious as well.

 

Bowe was a very aesthetically pleasing fighter to watch, with good punch technique and good variety of punches but Lewis was the more skillful boxer.

 

In the early 90's, I'm not so sure, but towards the middle of the decade, as Lewis developed under the instruction of Manny Steward, I think his skillset broadened to the point of surpassing Bowes. Riddick had a good infighting game, but his defense remained very unpolished. He also never learned to utilize his wingspan to the best of his advantage, by using the jab from a distance. I think Lewis improved in these areas and several others..

 

:good

 

If by "skills", you mean the skills to acquire and defend the heavyweight championship, and duck no one, then Lewis.

And for all of Bowe's infighting ability (which seemed to overawe many pundits) he had porous defense and a very often lazy jab. Still, I admit I thought he was the real thing and was surprised how quickly he declined.

 

It's obvious to no end that 'skills' doesn't mean that.

 

Lennox

 

this.
If Bowe possessed a more, patient and disciplined mind, he would have excelled in the heavyweight division. Bowe was more skillful, but as they say, the mind> physical. And Lewis&Bowe demonstrate that perfectly

 

I'd say it's pretty even.

Both are very skilful, in terms of their array of punches it's hard to split them, perhaps Bowe has the edge. In terms of defence, Lewis all day. Bowe was always way too hittable, Lennox possibly had slightly better footwork too.

The main area where Lewis was superior was being able to use those skills as best he could, and he had the intelligence to take away some of what his opponent brought to the table.

The only time I can really recall Lewis fighting how his opponent wanted for a prolonged spell was against Mercer. Against Holyfield II, Bruno and Klitschko he did for shorter periods.

Bowe was aided against Holyfield in that when Evander got hit he always fired back, whereas he looked bad against the likes of Hide because he had to go looking for them.

 

Not the most eloquent saying, is it?